A great start to a football full day was to watch my grandson play for Ketering Town under nines against two of Everton’s under nines teams at their impressive training ground at Finch farm, Halewood. The complex was vast and amazing, buzzing with games, training and happy helpful people. The guy on the gate, the lady in the café, a steward who took us to the pitch and the coaches who oversaw the game. They lost both matches but what an experience and they didn’t look out of place. No photography here except for a sneaky shot of the badge.
With the games over by midday I drove on to Stockport Sports Village. This sports complex is north of the centre and is the home of Stockport Town F.C. who were hosting Bury F.C. in the North West Counties League, Premier Division.
I named my blog ‘payonthegate’ to reflect the difference between the Non League game and the professional league clubs but here I was attending my second all ticket 9th level match in a couple of weeks.
Being early I was able to park in the large car park and enter the ground at one corner through turnstiles overlooked by people on gym equipment, you could watch the game from an exercise bike if you planned it well.
What struck me was the organisation and effort that the home team had put in to looking after the 1240 expected fans. Three programme sellers, a raffle with many prizes, outside table for canned drink sales, an outside serving hatch for food and drink and an upstairs bar again for food and drink. They announced early in the second half that they had run out of pies and hot dogs so their efforts were rewarded.
This ground has a modern flat all weather pitch, which had a lot of black crumb on it. It sits high up on a hill overlooking a valley with trees and fields. Two sides are open with flat standing, one end has terraced covered standing behind the goal and the other side has a large tiered covered seated stand with other support buildings. The temperature was a chilly 6 degrees with high grey clouds, a dampness in the air, but with no wind.
Club Histories
Stockport Town have come a long way since they were formed in 2014. After a year of friendlies they were admitted to the North West Counties League Division 1 and soon showed that they could compete at that level getting into play offs. They have now reached the Premier Division after a League reorganisation.
Bury, by contrast, have a history reaching back to 1885 with the merger of Bury Wesley’s and Bury Unitarians. They won the F.A. Cup twice in their early years and won many promotions and suffered relegations during their up and down years. They often competed in England’s top two divisions, but their biggest test came in 2019. Having just secured promotion, the club folded in May of that year. Fans started a new club out of the wreckage and were rewarded by acceptance in 2020 to the North West Counties League. They, along with their women’s team, won promotion and since then have missed out on moving higher up the pyramid. 2022 saw a separate group acquire Gigg Lane their home since 1885 and one of the oldest football ground in the world. A meger of the two groups in 2023, like the merger of 1885, put the club back as one.
Stockport Town F.C. 1 Bury F.C. 2
Saturday 1st February 2025, North West Counties League, Premier Division, 15.00 pm Kick Off, 9th v 2nd, The Lions v The Shakers
Attendance 1240
Stockport Sports Village, Lambeth Grove, Woodley, Stockport, SK6 1QX.
Stockport Town F.C.; Red shirts and black shorts, the goalkeeper in all blue.
Bury F.C.; Canary Yellow Shorts and shirts that had navy blue shoulders, the goalkeeper in all green.
The floodlights were on from the start and it was noticeable that the uneven bounce was being controlled by Bury from the beginning. Withinn three minutes, Ruben Jerome was brought down in the penalty area. D J Pedro stepped forward and put the ball into the top of the centre of the net.
Bury kept up the pressure and with the game reaching 24 minutes Bury went further ahead when a lobbed cross bounced up high for D j Pedro to hang in the air and head the ball down into the left hand corner of the net. Stockport started to come more into the game after this, often using long throw ins as an attacking tactic. Bury, though, repulsed everything with ease, unlike the continual procession of planes on their decent into Manchester Airport.
The second half was again dominated by Bury and their numerous supporters couldn’t understand how they failed to score a hatful. Stockport’s efforts of their keeper, defensive blocks and clearances off the line were rewarded when their substitute George Omokua started to caused problems on the left flank. Jack Atkinson latched onto a pass in the final minutes of the game and drilled a shot along the ground to reduce the deficit. With 5 minutes indicated for added time it looked like Burys’ wasted chances may have come home to haunt them but they saw out that time comfortably.
With other results going their way Bury leapt back to the top of the League and the hope of many that this will see them go on to finally achieve one more promotion in their journey back to the EFL. For Stockport it showed that they can compete at the higher end of this league and for their bank balance the day was a resounding success due to their planning and effort.
Football Food
Unfortunately no chips here but but there were pies from ‘The Great North Pie Company’ who won ‘The Best Pie in Britain’ at the British Pie Awards on the 22nd October 2024. There were Cheese and Onion. Chicken Balti, Meat and Potato and Chicken and Ham, which I tried, with mashed potato, mushy peas and gravy. I can see why they won the award.
payonthegate 